Flat wire basket and method of making the same



l.. Ml 1 /gl Nov. 12, 1968 R. G. DARINGER ET AL 3,410,546

FLAT WIRE BASKET AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 16, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 BYJCM W/LLEY /47 05m/Ens' NOV. 12, 1968 R, Q DARINGER ET Al. l 3,410,546

FLAT WIRE BASKET AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 16, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 W ww N IN VEN TCR3 TTH/VEVS FLAT WIRE BASKET AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 16, 1967 Nov. 12, 1968 R. G, DARlNGER ETAL 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 fh T fi 'i im IH* 40% /Mm SMV, Re f @we .MZ M E www/@0 @.5 vr 27W United States ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE In a basket or tray preferably having side walls and ends made from a plurality of wickets or flat wires having crimps which are intermeshed in overlapping relation with the crimps of adjacent flat wires, the fiat wires being interconnected by means of rods extending through the crimps thereof, the improvement wherein the side walls, formed transversely of the rods and wickets, are bent into an upwardly extending position about a fold line passing approximately through the point where adjacent intermeshed crimps overlap each other and a method of forming a basket by effecting the upward bend of the side wall along the fold line described above.

Background and summary of invention This invention represents an improvement over the invention `described in the co-pending application of Joseph E. McKnett, Ir., Ser. No. 646,509 filed on June 16, 1967, and assigned to a common assignee with the instant application. When the side wall of the basket is bent upwardly about :a fold line extending substantially perpendicular to the rods and transverse segments of the wickets, the obvious location of the fold line is across one of the transverse segments of the wickets as the bend can be most easily effected in this region. However, while the basket was substantially rigid, there was some play or flexibility in the joints. In many applications, this minor amount of play would be of no particular concern, but where narrow objects are stood on end for heat treatment and the like, such as cylindrical members, this flexibility would be apt to cause the object to topple over. Accordingly, substantial rigidity is desirable to prevent play in the basket as it is lifted, for instance.

The basket or tray described herein and in the above mentioned co-pending application is commonly used in heat treating operations and the like wherein the basket carries articles which are to be subjected to heat treatments. The basket is porous without blind spots or restricted areas thereby exposing the articles to heat and enabling efficient, uniform movement of the cooling uid in and out of the basket. In operation, the basket is subjected to extremes of high and low heat thereby causing expansion and contraction of the basket. The basket or tray can also be used as a food processing basket, a storage bin basket, a chemical processing basket, a dipping basket, a filtering basket, and a washing, drying, and/ or rinsing basket, and the like.

Heretofore, it was often desirable to have baskets of considerable strength, but as strength was increased, the weight was also increased. Moreover, with heavier baskets, the expansion properties for high temperature applications were poor. The basket described herein provides a much stronger and more rigid basket for a given weight with excellent expansion properties for high temperature applications. When properly bent, the fiat wire yfabric not only becomes rigid, but it forms its own frame or strength structure. Moreover, the basket is not dependent on welds for its structure as are many designs. Such welds hinder the expansion property of the basket. Moreover,

latent F Patented Nov. 12, 1968 ICC the basket material is of wrought metal, such as plain carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steels, or heat resisting steels, as opposed to cast metal, which is particularly important for high temperature applications where wrought metals have better expansion properties and allow lighter constructions. The crimped flat wires, having -a depth considerably greater than the width thereof, offer considera-ble resistance to bending thereby increasing the compressive strength of the basketA bottom and hence of the basket itself While keeping the overall weight to a minimum.

The advantages described -above are accomplished by making the basket out of flat wire belting material comprising corrugated or crimped flat wires, each intermeshed with the adjacent at wire and hingedly connected together by means of a rod. In the ordinary basket with four sides, two of the sides are formed by bending the at wire fabric upwardly along an axis transverse to the at wires and rods and passing through the point where adjacent intermeshed crimps overlap each other as defined hereinafter'. The other two sides, referred to herein as ends of the basket are simply pivoted upwardly about one of the rods interconnecting adjacent flat wires.

Brie]c description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a fragmented, perspective view of the basket embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of one-half of the flat wire belt blank prior to construction into the gasket, the other half being the mirror image of that shown, the longitudinal center line of the blank appearing at A-A;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan view of one corner of the wire fabric shown in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan View of one wicket;

FIGURE 5 is a -front view of the wicket shown in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view corresponding to a sectional view shown in FIGURE 6 showing a modification of the rod holes;

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view, taken from inside the basket of the juncture of the side wall and base wall where the side wall is bent upwardly, according to the prior art, along a fold line intersecting the root surface of the crimp of a flat wire; and

FIGURE 9 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view, taken from outside the basket of the juncture of the side wall and base wall where the side wall is bent upwardly, according to the present invention, along a fold lline passing through the point where adjacent crimps overlap each other.

Description of the preferred embodiment FIG-URE l shows a fully constructed basket or tray 10 embodying the principles of the invention. The basket 10 is described as having a base wall or bottom 12, side walls 14 disposed from each other along a transverse axis designated at 16 and end walls 18 disposed from each other along a longitudinal axis designated at 20. As will be described in greater detail hereinafter, the side walls 14 are integrally connected to the base wall and are bent into position while the end walls are pivotally connected to the base wall and are easily pivoted into position. A different orientation of the elements from which the basket is constructed could n'd the side Walls, as defined above, oriented along the longitudinal axis of basket and the end walls (or tail gates), along the transverse axis of the basket.

The basket 10 is constructed from a piece of flat Wire belting material or blank 22 shown in FIGURES 2 and 3;

thus the sides, ends, and base of the basket are uniormly constructed. The at wire belt 22 comprises a plurality of wickets or crimped flat wires 24 which are intermeshed (i.e., interdigitated) and pivotally interconnected by means of rods 26.

An individual wicket or crimped flat wire is shown in FIGURES 4-6. The Wicket could also be described as a corrugated flat wire or a fiat wire of convoluted shape. One convolution 28 would be measured from point 30 to point 30' on the adjacent convolution, as shown in FIGURE 4, and comprises a fiat portion 32 lying in and defining the plane of the fiat wire and a crimp portion 34 defined by crimp side walls 36 and a crimp root wail 38. The crimp is of approximately trapezoidal shape, the base of which comprises an imaginary line in the plane of the fiat portion 32. As will be appreciated, the crimps lie on one side of the flat wire once the plane of the fiat wire has been established. As illustrated in the drawings, the plane of the fiat Wire extends transversely of the belt and when incorporated in the belt, the wickets or crimped fiat wires are substantially parallel to each other. It is further obvious that either one of the transverse segments (32 or 38) could :define the plane of the fiat wire from which the direction of the crimps is determined.

The crirnps 34 are transversely spaced from each other and the crimp side walls 36 converge toWar-d each other and toward the crimp root wall 38. The converging side walls 36 of the crimps 34 have transversely facing holes 40 extending therethrough adjacent each end of the crimp side walls, i.e., adjacent the transverse segments (32 and 38) of the wicket. The holes are adapted to receive rods 36, and as a result, they are larger than the rods. As shown in FIGURE 6, the holes are round, while a modication shown in -FIGURE 7 shows the holes as being elongated. The flat wire itself is as long as required for a belt of a particular width and has a dept-h 42 considerably greater than its width 44. As an example, the size of the flat wire might be 1/2" x l/" and round wire sizes might be, for example, 12, 11 or 6 U.S. Steel wire gauge sizes. The at wire belt provides excellent resistance to compressive loads because the increased depth resists bending while minimizing the total weight of the belt.

In constructing the basket, one would select a piece of fiat wire belting llong enough and wide enough to make the basket desired. By laying the belt or blank out fiat, all four corners would be carefully cut away preferably allowing sufficient extra length of rods to be used for clinching adjacent sides at the corners of the basket.

The 'fabric so formed would take the configuration of a Greek cross, one-half of which is shown in FIGURE 2 having, for the purposes of identification, two side arms 46 which will eventually form the side walls 16 of the basket and two end arms 48 which will eventually form the end walls 18 of the basket.

The side arms 46 of the cross of the blank are bent upwardly about an axis 50 which is perpendicular to the rods and wickets, and, as illustrated, lies longitudinally of the belt, so as to form the side walls 16 of the basket. The bending of the arms is accomplished by use of a power brake or some other appropriate device. The end arms of the cross of the blank are then pivoted upwardly about an axis 52 perpendicular to the rst axis 50 and defined by one of the rods to form the end walls 18. As illustrated, this axis lies transversely of the belting material, and the end arms are pivoted upwardly in the same manner as a tail gate. The upwardly extending edges 54 of the end walls are joined to the adjacent upwardly extending edges 56 of the side walls. Desirably, the edges are joined by clinching the extra rod lengths of the end wall which were left when the corners of the belt-ing fabric were removed. The end wall rods are bent around the crimped root walls and rod of the adjacent side wall wicket defining the upwardly extending edge of the side wall. The joining of the upwardly extending edges of the end wall and side wall could be effected by welding or brazing, rather than clinching, although the latter method of joining (clinching) is preferred because of the flexibility permitted when the basket expands and contracts during heat treatment operations.

It will be readily apparent that the side and end wails of the basket are made out of the same material as the base wall. Moreover, inasmuch as the side walls are defined as being bent upwardly' about an axis perpendicular to the wickets and rods, it is integrally connected to the base wall through the bent rods and wickets. On the other hand, the end wall, while being of the same material, is only pivotally connected to the base wall by means of a rod. It will be seen that the crimps of adjacent base wall wickets and end wall wickets are intermeshed and pivotally connected by a rod at the junctures of the base wall and end walls. The bending of the side walls not only bends both the round Wire and crimped flat wire, but also prevents any further hinging action of the belt material contained between the side walls. When `the end walls are joined to the side walls, they also become rigidized thereby providing a bask-et which forms its own frame or strength structure.

As described above, the rods extend transversely of the basket and the side Walls are bent upwardly on an axis perpendicular to the rods. The basket could be formed with the rods dening the long dimension of the basket, and the end Walls would be transversely disposed with respect to each other. However, some increase in load carrying ability is evident when the rods extend transversely of the basket.

When the basket is constructed as described above, it will be seen that the holes of the base wall crimps and the wall crimps, as well as the rods passing therethrough, are aligned on transverse axes, the holes of each wicket being coaxial so as to receive a straight rod. The holes of the side wall crimps, as well as the rods passing therethrough, are aligned on axes angularly inclined to the transverse alignment of the holes of the base wall crimps, and the axis of the holes of the base wall crimps and of the side wall crimps of each wicket fall within an imaginary plane substantially perpendicular to the base wall.

The crimped fiat wire construction of the base wall enables the basket to be driven by a sprocket gear if desired. Moreover, as illustrated in FIGURE l, skids 58 separating wicket sections in the base wall and mounted on the continuous rods could be provided. The skids extend below the bottom surface of the bottom wall and allow the basket to ride thereon. Furthermore, handle means could be secured to the opposed upwardly extending basket end Walls or side walls. As illustrated in FIG- URE l, the handle means comprises a U-shaped rod 60 having the free end portions 62 thereof secured to the wickets of the end walls, as by welds.

If the side wall is bent about the fold line 64 as shown in FIGURE 3, intersecting a transverse segment 66 of the wicket (i.e., a crimp root wall 38 or portion 32 of the wicket lying in and defining the plane of the fiat wire), the resulting bend will occur substantially in this transverse segment 66 of the wicket although the crimp side wall 68 connected thereto and lying in the plane of the base wall also is somewhat distorted. The resulting fold is shown in detail in FIGURE 8. As shown in this figure, the hole 70 in the bent crimp side wall 68 faces transversely in alignment with the transverse segment of the rod and the other hole 72 in the crimp side wall 74, lying in the plane of the side wall, is coaxially aligned with the upwardly extending portion of the same rod and thus on an axis angularly inclined with respect to the axis of hole 7i). Thus, the major portion of the bend or twist in the wicket in FIGURE 8 occurs in a transverse wicket segment mounted on the same rod.

The bend about fold line 64, resulting in the fold shown in FIGURE 8, is the most obvious manner and place to bend the side wall upwardly because there is a minimum of resistance to bending at this point. For the reasons described above, baskets having a bending of this type were not satisfactory for some applications. Of course, the play or fiexibility in the basket could be eliminated by welding the wickets and rods together at selected places. However, the welds will affect the ease of expansion and contraction of the basket during heat treatment operations.

It has been discovered that if the side wall of the basket is bent about fold line 7S (FIGURE 3), which is perpendicular to the rods, the iiexibility in the basket will be eliminated without hindering the expansion and contraction properties thereof. The fold line approximately extends between, and is defined by, the points 80 located approximately at the point where the crimps of adjacent wickets overlap each oth-er. That is, the crimps overlap where the ends of the crimp side walls overlap so that their respective holes 40 are in alignment to receive a rod. The spread 81 (see FIGURE 4) of the wickets, `as illustrated, is the transverse dimension of one convolution. In order to accommodate the intermeshing of adjacent wickets, the spread of a particular wicket is sufiiciently wide to accommodate the transverse elements of adjacent wickets. Generally there is a small gap between adjacent overlapping crimp side walls although the side walls could be touching if adjacent wickets happened to be laterally adjusted into abutting relationship at this point.

As shown in detail in FIGURE 9, the bend occurs substantially in the crimp side wall 82 intersected by the fold line 78 although the first transversely oriented segment 84 in the side wall is somewhat twisted. As shown with respect to the holes of the crimp side wall 82, one hole 86 faces transversely in alignment with the transverse segment of the rod and the other hole S8 is coaxially aligned with the upwardly extending portion of the adjacent rod and thus on an axis angularly inclined with respect to the axis of hole 86. Moreover, the major portion of the bend or twist in the wicket in FIGURE 9 occurs in a wicket element (i.e., crimp side wall 82) extending between adjacent substantially parallel rods.

As will be seen from a comparison of FIGURES 8 and 9, the construction of FIGURE 9 produces a much more rigid basket and for that reason is important in some applications. The flexibility in FIGURE 8 results in part from the freedom in movement allowed at point 90 and from the spreading in the wicket trapezoidal crimps 34 allowing slight separation at points 80 (see FIGURE 3 although this separation is so small that it is not shown in this drawing). `In FIGURE 9 there is no gap between the wicket and the rod at the bend of the rod. Moreover, portion 92 of the bent crimp side wall 82, lying horizontally, abuts the rvertical edge 94 of the adjacent wicket and compressively holds it I'against lateral displacement. Thus, in bending the side wall, the wicket trapezoidal crimps 34 are forced into tight abutment at points 80 and frictionally hold the 'wicket segments of the bottom wall 12 and side walls 14. To be forced into tight abutment where the ends of the side walls of intermeshed crimps touch, the spread 81 must be decreased. Further, the twisting of the Ibent crimp side wall 82 reduces the pitch 96 (i.e., the distance between the holes 86 and 88 causing the rods to be pulled hard against the extremities of the holes). This construction further rigidizes the bottom wall 12 and side walls 14 along the fold line 78.

Heretofore, the basket has been described as having two sides and two ends. Of course, just as the transverse and longitudinal orientation of the basket can be changed rwithin the scope of the invention, it is possible to eliminate the end walls and even one of the side walls within the scope of the invention. If only one side wall is bent upwardly, the other end of the rod would have to 'be secured to the oppositedly disposed edge of the base wall by clinching (as the rods are now shown secured with respect to the free transverse edges of the belting material), brazing, welding, or some other means. Thus, within the scope of this invention the basket may be defined by a base and one or more upwardly extending walls, and could be referred to as a tray.

Moreover, the basket formed as described above could serve as a frame for a fine mesh wire cloth liner which can be made to fit snugly inside the basket to retain small parts or filter out certain media. These liners ycould be welded in place or be removable.

While a preferred form of the invention has been illustrated in the drawings and discussed above, it should be adequately clear that considerable modification may be made thereto without departing from the principles of the invention. Therefore, the foregoing should be considered in an illustrative sense rather than a limiting sense, and accordingly the extent of this invention should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A basket comprising:

a plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets defining at least a base wall and a pair of oppositely disposed, upwardly extending side walls, integrally and rigidly connected to the base Iwall, each wicket comprising a fiat wire having spaced crimps on one side of the fiat wire, each crimp being defined by at least two converging crimp side walls, the crimps of adjacent fiat wires in the plane of each wall being intermeshed so that a portion of the crimp side walls of intermeshed crimps of adjacent wickets overlap each other;

rods extending through the intermeshed crimps of adjacent wickets so as to pivotally interconnect adjacent wickets;

each juncture of the side wall and the base wall being Idefined by one of the crimp side walls, the `crimp side wall defining this juncture have holes at opposite ends thereof adapted to receive rods, the hole -at one end being aligned on a first axis Iand the hole at the other end being aligned on a second axis angularly inclihed to the first axis and the crimp side wall between the crimp holes being twisted.

2. The basket defined in claim 1 additionally comprising upwardly extending end walls defined by a plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets substantially similar to the wickets defining the base wall andY side walls, rods extending through the intermeshed crimps of the end walls, and the adjacent base wall wickets and end wall wickets being intermeshed and pivotally connected by a rod, and means for joining the upwardly extending edges of the end walls to the upwardly extending edge of the adjacent side walls.

3. The basket defined in claim 2 wherein each of the crimp side walls has a pair of holes adjacent opposite ends of the crimp side walls, the holes in the side walls of adjacent crimps of the same wicket being aligned so as to receive a rod.

4. The basket defined in claim 3 wherein the holes are elongated in cross-sectional configuration.

5. The basket defined in claim 3 wherein the holes of the base wall crimps and the end wall crimps are transversely aligned and wherein the holes of the side wall crimps are aligned on the axis angularly inclined to the transverse alignment of the holes of the base wall crimps, the axis of the holes of the base wall crimps and of the side wall crimps of each wicket falling within an imaginary plane substantially perpendicular to the base wall.

6. The basket defined in claim 2 wherein the |means for joining the upwardly extending edges of the end 'walls to the upwardly extending edges of the adjacent side walls comprises the rods extending solely through the crimps of the end walls.

7. The basket defined in claim 2 additionally comprising longitudinally extending skids separating wicket sections in the base wall and mounted on continuous rods so as to extend below Ithe bottom surface of the bottom wall.

8. The basket defined in claim 2 additionally comprising handle means secured to two disposed upwardly extending basket walls.

9. The ybasket defined in claim 1 wherein the overlapping crimps of adjacent wickets touch each other.

10. A basket blank comprising:

a plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets, each wicket comprising a fiat wire having spaced crimps on one side of the flat wire, each crimp being defined by at least two converging side walls, the crimps of adjacent wires being intermeshed;

rods extending through the intermeshed crimps of adjacent wickets so as to pivotally interconnect adjacent wickets; and

means defining a fold line lying perpendicular to the rods and about which the wickets and rods are adapted to be bent to define a side Wall which is rigidly and integrally connected to the base wall, the means defining the fold line extending transversely between the overlapping ends of crimp side walls of adjacent wickets and the fold line intersecting a crimp side wall, the side wall being lbent about this fold line.

11. The basket blank defined in claim 10 wherein the crimp side wall intersected by the fold line is approximately vertically oriented at one longitudinal end thereof and approximately horizontally oriented at the other Iongitutinal end thereof.

12. In a method of making a basket from a blank comprising a fiat wire piece of belting comprising a plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets, each wicket comprising a liat wire having spaced crimps on one side of the fiat wire, each crimp being defined by at least two converging side Walls, the crimps of adjacent wires being intermeshed and interconnected by means of rods extending through the intermeshed crimps of adjacent wickets, the improvement comprising the step of:

bending one edge portion of the blank about a fold line perpendicular to the rods, the fold line extending approximately along the points of Overlap between the crimp side wall of one wicket and the corresponding crimp side wall of the adjacent wicket, the fold line piercing the crimp side Wall lying in the plane of the base wall.

13. The method defined in claim 12 additionally cornprsing the steps of joining at least one end wall to the -base wall comprising the unbent portion of the blank,

and connecting one upwardly extending edge of the end wall to the adjacent upwardly extending edge of the side wall.

14. A method of making a basket comprising a pair of side walls, at least one end wall, and a base wall from a cross-shaped, fiat wire piece of belting comprising la plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets, each wicket comprising a fiat wire having spaced crimps on one side of the fiat Wire, each crimp being defined by at least two converging side walls, the crimps of adjacent wires being intermeshed and interconnected by means of rods comprising the steps of:

bending opposite side arms of the cross-shaped piece of belting upwardly about an axis perpendicular to the rods and intersecting a crimp side wall;

pivoting opposite end arms of the cross-shaped piece of belting about a rod into an upwardly extending position; and

joining together the adjacent upwardly extending edges of the side arms and end arms.

15. A method of making a basket having a base wall and at least one upwardly extending side wall from a substantially fiat blank comprising a plurality of intermeshed, substantially parallel wickets, each wicket comprising a fiat wire having spaced crimps on one side of the flat wire, each crimp being defined by at least two converging side walls, the crimps of adjacent wires being intermeshed and interconnected by means of rods extending through the intermeshed crimps of adjacent wickets, the wickets defining the side wall forming an upward extension of the wickets lying in the plane of the base wall and being integrally connected thereto, comprising the steps of:

bending one edge portion of the blank about a fold line perpendicular to the rods to define a side Wall; and

simultaneusly decreasing the pitch of the wickets defining the side Wall and of the wickets lying in the plane of the base wall and integrally connected to the wickets defining the side wall.

16. The method defined in claim 15 additionally comprising the step of simultaneously decreasing the spread of the wickets lying in the plane of the base Wall and integrally connected to the wickets defining the side wall.

17. A method defined in claim 15 wherein the step of bending one edge portion comprises the step of bending one edge portion of the blank about a fold line perpendicular to the rods along the points of overlap between the crimp side wall of one wicket and the corresponding crimp side wall ofthe adjacent wicket.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,825,481 3/1958 Glenny 220-19 2,962,273 11/ 1960 Moore. 3,022,058 2/1962 Bixby et al 263-47 3,044,755 7/ 1962 Bixby. 3,084,966 4/1963 Higgins 220-19 X JOHN I. CAMBY, Primary Examiner. 

